Compost Barns: A Bibliometric Analysis

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In the dairy farming system that uses compost barns, animals remain in a large area covered with organic material and are free to move and express their behaviors in a more natural way. The compost barn system has become popular in recent years because it provides greater well-being and quality of life, favoring animal productivity and longevity. The aim of this paper is to develop a bibliometric analysis to evaluate scientific studies about compost barn systems. A total of 108 databases, considering articles and literature reviews obtained from the Scopus and Web of Science databases were considered for this analysis. After standardizing the data, the resulting spreadsheet was analyzed with VOSviewer software. The keywords most used by the authors were “compost-bedded pack barn”, “dairy cow”, and “dairy cattle”. The most relevant countries, journals, institutions, researchers, and co-citation networks to compost barn research were highlighted. The analysis confirmed a significant interest in the spatial variation in the sheds and their relationship with milk quality, heat stress, and animal welfare. This paper provides a great contribution related to the scientific evolution and the research and publishing tendencies of studies on the compost barn animal housing system. ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate the main scientific studies addressing the topic of compost barns in recent years, highlighting the main journals, authors, countries, organizations, and keywords associated with the publications and trends in this type of research through a bibliometric analysis. For this analysis, publications (articles and literature reviews) addressing compost barns were obtained from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 108 studies published between 2007 and April 2022 were included. A greater number of publications was observed starting in 2017, with 2021 having the largest number of publications. The Journal of Dairy Science was the most highly cited journal. Marcia I. Endres was the author with the greatest academic impact. The most influential country was the United States, followed by Brazil. Among the organizations that have published studies on compost barns, the Federal University of Lavras, and the University of Florence had the largest numbers of publications. In conclusion, this bibliometric analysis allowed us to evaluate the scientific evolution, research, and publishing tendencies of studies on the compost barn animal housing system, and the results make it possible to deduce current trends in scientific research and publications.